Mail-carrier.



4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

v I I PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908.

G. B. ORABTREE;

MAIL CARRIER.

llVVE/VTUR (3.6. nabzree flTTOR/VEYS' APPLICATION FILED OUT. 2, 1906.

PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908.

C. B. CRABTREE.

MAIL CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED 0012, 1906.

4 SHEETSSHEBT 2.

- IIVVENTOR C. B. 0762537 ATTORNEYS WITNESSES:

No. 890,026. PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908. 0. B. ORABTREE.

. MAIL CARRIER.

APPLIOATION FILED OCT. 2, 1906.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WITIVESSES: l/VI/EA/TOR GE. Cra 2712a ATTORNEYS No. 890,026. PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908. G. B. GRABTREB.

MAIL CARRIER.

APPLIOATIO'N FILED OUT. 2, 190R 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

INVENTOR GE. Graziree.

WITH/8858:

4 TTORNEY 2 dotted lines.

CHARLES E. ORABIREE, OF MANCHESTER, ILLINOIS.

' MAIL-CARRIER.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented June 9, 1908.

Application filed October 2, 1906; Serial No. 337,110.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, )nAnLns B. CRAB- rnnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Manchester, in the county of Scott and State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Mail-Carriers, of which the following is a s ecificationr This invention re ates to adcvice designed to automatically distribute and collect mail, especially in rural districts, taking the place of the present rural delivery made by carriers employed for that purpose. I,

lhe invention consists of an elevated mail car, travelin upon elevated cables and driven by a small e ectric motor, the car being provided with suitable trolleys and of receiving and delivery stations placed along the route and adapted to receive mail from the car and to deliver mail to the car, such exchange being made automatically as the car passes these stations.

The invention also consists in a special construction of trolleys and reversing mechanism whereby the car is automatically reversed and started upon its return trip when it has reached the end of the line.

In the drawings forming a part of this specifioationk-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a car and of one of the stations, the parts bein shown in position to deliver and receive mai Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the car, certain portions of the, station being broken away, shown in section, or shown in Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one of the stations, the parts being shown in their normal positions, certain JtltS being out of proportion to more clearly bring out details of construction. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is an irregular section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view showing a portion of the under side of the car. Fig. 8

is a side elevation of an end post showing a bufier attached thereto. Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view of a bracket for holding certain trip-pin mechanism, a portion of said mechanism eing shownin dotted lines.

In these drawings 1 'represen-tsa trolley wirepand 2 represents my car. This car is dividedby-a horizontal partition into upper 1 The top of the I and lower corn artments. car has a contra sunken Y ortion as shown. at

Al, which forms a receptac e for receiving mailmatter; Vertical partitions 5, extend between the bottom of the car and the horizontal partitions 3, and divide the lower portion of the car into a plurality of boxes, which boxes equal in number, the number of delivery stations and receiving stations, on the car route. The bottoms 6, of these boxes are hinged to swing downwardly. To support the car, I provide a track formed preferably of two arallel cables 7, arranged below and parall l to the trolley wire 1. The top'of the car is provided with brackets 8, which overhang the wire 1, and grooved wheels 9, are secured. in these brackets and travel upon the wire 11. Brackets 10, are se cured to the bottom of the car and grooved wheels 11, travel upon the wires 7, and support and guide the car. A suitable motor 12, of any desired descri tion so long as it is reversible is placed int is car and a trolley pole 13 is arranged. longitudinally in the upper compartment of the car where it is supported pivotally at a point near its center of gravity.

This trolley pole projects from the car from verse mechanism and to the motor 12.. A v

reversing lever 20, is connected by a. link 21,- to the )ole 13. Suitable letter drops 22, are formed in the sides of the car through which letters. may be deposited into the various boxes. As the stations are all alike adescription of one of them, will be sufficient. A U-shaped frame 23, is provided with laterally extending arms 24, which-arms are provided with upwardly extending shoes 25, whichshoes support the wires 1 and 7 respectively. A receptacle .26, to receive the mail matter, is arranged between the side members of the frame 23 and below the wires 7. This receptacle is provided with a sliding top 27, and u on one side of the receptacle 26 is pivote .a lever 28 which at its lower end carries a ball weight 29, which normally holds the lever in a vertical position.

A pivoted link 30 pivotallyconneets the Upon one side; of the car is secured a long 1 bar the front end of which is curved upwarldy as shown at 32. This bar strikes the lever 28, and swingsjt from a vertical position into the position shown in Fig. 1 thereby. opening the lid 27 of the receptacle 26. Th

hinged'bottoms 6, are cut out on the side opposite the hinges as shown at 6 and to the partitions are secured springs 33, the free hook members which engage the notched.

portions of the bottoms 6 and lock'the said ends of which extend downwardly and form bottomsin their normal positions. To eachof these springs 33, is secured a finger 34, which projects laterally beyond a side of the car and levers 35, are pivotedto the said side of the car, one lever being adjacent to each of said fingers. These levers are off-set adjacent their lower ends and this off-set varies so that the lower ends of these levers are out of 'alinement with each other. Upon the receptacle 26, 'is mounted a trigger 36,"

which is in position to be struck by the lower end of one and only one of the levers 35. Upon the frame 23, is secured a bracket or frame 37, in which is pivotally held a mail box 38. A bracket 39, is secured to-a side member of the frame 23, and in this bracket is journaled a rotatable angled rod 40, theangled portion of which extends under theon the armature of the motor, and upon the other end of the armature shaft ismounted a ulley 47 and a belt 48 runs to a pulley 49, heild'upon the lower end of a-vertical shaft 50, which is loosely mounted in a bracket 51, and which carries at its upper .end a ball governor 52, of the usualtype.

A. bifurcated lever 53, is ivoted-with-in the car and its bifurcated end portions carry brake shoes 34, which bear upon rollers 55, mounted upon one of the shafts 11'. The

lower end of the shaft50,.be'ars upon a suitable socket 57, formed upon the lever 53., and the weight of the shaft holds the shoes 1 54, in enga ement with the rollers 55, it being understoo that the amount of ressure exerted upon the brake lever 53, y the shaft will depend upon the action of the governor 52. At the end of the route to the post 60, is secured a V-shaped buffer 61. The front end of the car there is a forwardly pr'ojiecting post 63, which post carries downwar 1y extending jaws 64, normally drawn together by a spring 65. These jaws are in a position to receive and grip the forward end portion of the trolley pole 13 when its front portion '13", has struck and rides u upon the buffer 61, and the spring 65, he ds the jaws in a closed position after theyhave been forced open by the pole 13, and have gripped the same.

The operation of the device is briefly, as

follows -Mail to be distributed is placed in the boxes'by means of the drops 22, and the car is then started from the post office end ofv its route. As it reaches the various stations ,the bottoms 6, will be, each, automatically tripped and will fall open at the. proper-stations and. the covers of the'receptacles 26,

will be opened and all mail matter of the boxes wil tacle 26.

It will be obvious from what has already;

been stated that only one box 6, will be opened at each station as the. opening of each box and dropping of the mail contained therein, depends upon the trigger 36, coming a into contact with one of the levers 35 and the tended to receive the mail of J ohn L. Dough,

will only engage the lever 35, which tri s the bottom 6, of the box in which Jo n L.

Doughs mail has been placed, and mail contained in the other boxes will not be drop ed be deposited within the, rceptrigger placed upon the receptacle 26, in- 6 into the receptacle intended for the mm of the said John L. Dough.

As heretofore explained, the cover 27, of the receptacle is automatically opened, by

the lever 28, coming into'contact' with the bar 31 carried by the said lever which forces the said lever into the position shownin Fig. 1.. It will be obvious that when the end 32 of the bar 31, strikes the upright lever. 28,

and commences to throw the same into 5 an inclined weight 29 an speed of the car will be momentarily checked. The efiect of this action 11 on the governor (position, thereby lifting the 52, will be-to permit the s raft 50, to move 11 downwardly and in fact itwill be forced downward by the action of the governor. This will increase the pressure of: the shaft 11 on the lever 53, and the brake shoes 54, wil be i applied to the wheels 55', which wheels are fixed to a shaft ll'and this shaft carries the gear wheel 45 also fixed upon the shaft and meshing'with the gear wheel 46 fixed to the armature shaft. The action of this brake tends to slacken the speed of the car slightly and therefore allows ample time for the delivery-of the mail. After the car has passed the station, it will gradually pick up its'normal speed and as such s eed is gained, the action of the gov ernor wi lift'the shaft 51, and the pressure on the brake shoes will be removed. At the same time that mail is delivered the bar 31,

will strike the rollers 42, and will throw/ the .arm41, outwardly against the tension of the spring 43 thereby rotating the angled rod sliding the cover 27, that the ticular kind of motor or upon any of the Lette1s'Patent,is:-

I 1. In a device of the kinddescribed, a car 40, throwing its upper angled end portion out from'under' the ivoted box 38 and-the mail deposited therein will be dropped into the receptacle 4, formed by the depression in the top of the car. -To protect this mail from the weather it is obvious that it can be placed in a small oil skin bag, or it can be, placed in a, tin or other water roof box, and the 'box or bag placed in the ox 38 and dropped from the same when the box 38 is tripped.

When the car reaches the end of the route the part 13 of the pivoted trolley; bar 13,

rides up upon the shoe and lifts the trolley wheel 15, from the wire. The trolley bar 13 is held in this new position by-the spring actuated grip or clamp 64, and the trolley wheel 17, rests upon the wire 1. of the position of the part ofthe trolley bar 13, shifts the'reversing lever 20, changing the direction of the current through the motor,

or through the field coils, according to the kind or style of motor employed and the car will be automatically reversed and travel back again to its starting point.

I do not make any claim upon any parwiring for the said motor as any of. the present systems of applying motive power'by means of electricity may be employed.

Having thus fully described myinvention,

what I claim as new and desire to secure by having compartments, means for discharging mail from said compartments and means arranged adjacent the path of travel of the car for delivering mail thereto, the top of-the car having a sunken portion to receive said mail 2. An electrically propelled mail car, a

longitudinally arranged trolley pole pivoted off its center of gravity, uprightscarried by said pole on opposite sides of the pivotal point, wheels carried by said uprights, said wheels alternately engaging a trolley line wire, and means carried by the car for ripping and holding an end of the trolley po e at a predetermined point, to change the relative positions of the wheels and reverse direction of the car.

3. An automatic mail oarrier'comprising a This, change car, a reversible motor, a track for the car, a

line wire, a trolley pole having its ends extending from the. ends of the car, uprightscarried by said projecting pole ends, trolley wheels on said uprights, the trolley pole being pivoted near its center of gravity, one.

trolley wheel being normally disenga ed from the wire, means arranged at the en of .the track for rocking the pole on its pivotal point and bringing the last mentioned trolley wheel into engagement with the line wire,

and meanscarried by the car for holding said Wheel in engagement'with the wire, and the other trolley wheel ofi of the wire.

4. A device of the kind described comprising an elevated carrier having a plurality of compartments therein, adapted to contain route, means carried by saidreceptacle for opening the same, and" means carried by the car adapted to engage and operate said opening means, means for automatically delivering mail from one of the boxes, into said receptacle, a pivoted box adapted to receive mall matter and suspended in a plane above that in I which the car travels, means for normally holding the said pivoted box in a horizontal position and means'carried by the car adapted to strike said box holding means and release the box, thereby discharging mail matter from the box into the car, as the .car passes beneath it.

CHARLES B. CRABTREE. Witnesses JOSEPH Galena, ALBERT LAWSON. 

